Tens of thousands gather to demand end to war at 2008 Global Article 9 Conference

The Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War, a three-day extravaganza of lectures, symposia, and workshops aimed at drawing the world’s attention to the importance of protecting the peace-upholding Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, concluded successfully on May 6^th. The conference turnout far exceeded organizers’ expectations, drawing over 30,000 participants in four locales across the country: more than 20,000 at the main conference venue of Makuhari Messe in Chiba (about an hour’s train ride east of Tokyo), and just over 11,000 total in the cities of Hiroshima, Osaka and Sendai. The attendees also included over 200 participants traveling overseas from 31 countries.

In order to appeal to as many constituencies as possible, the conference featured a creatively organized program offering something for all interests. Following opening remarks by conference co-organizer Yoshioka Tatsuya from the longstanding peace advocacy/action NGO Peace Boat, the gathering at the Chiba venue hosted a lineup of speeches that were interspersed with dynamic musical performances from a number of performers supporting the spirit of the conference.

The first keynote speaker was Mairead Corrigan Maguire, a 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for her work to end the conflict in Northern Ireland. She called on the Japanese government to recognize that the “War on Terror” was a failed strategy, and that the attempt to pursue it by dismantling Article 9 would amount to nothing less than contempt for the memory of past war victims (both Japanese and otherwise), as well as potentially threaten the very survival of humanity and the environment alike by unleashing the nuclear horrors that Japan should have already learned from. Citing the case of her own country, she reiterated that engaging in dialogue with one’s perceived enemies was the only possible road to peace—and that this must occur at the level of ordinary citizens in addition to national governments.

Cora Weiss, UN Representative of the International Peace Bureau and President of the Hague Appeal for Peace, delivered the second keynote speech, where she gave an impassioned plea for the realization that wars leave behind a path of destruction affecting generations to come. She also made the point that the real enemies we must now face up to are those of poverty, disease and ignorance—all ills that the use of weaponry will only inflame rather than defeat.

Later in the program came a creatively designed discussion titled “Iraq, the U.S., and Japan” that featured a lineup of several panelists. When viewed together as a collective whole, the individual experience of each speaker provided a startlingly integrated portrait of the culture of militarism that now frames the issue of Japan’s Constitutional Article 9. To briefly summarize:

l   The first speaker was Ann Wright, who retired from the U.S. military as a colonel and then worked as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department before resigning in opposition to the war in Iraq. She offered a scathing criticism of U.S. policy, particularly as regards the “War on Terror,” and exhorted Japan not to head down the same dangerous road by following U.S. demands that it remilitarize. She urged Japan to instead utilize Article 9 as an opportunity to reject the military-industrial complex in favor of a new style of economics, which could also set a powerful example for other nations to follow.

l   This presentation was followed by Aidan Delgado, a former soldier from the U.S. military who resigned as a conscientious objector after being assigned to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. “As a Buddhist, I had no choice but to quit the army once I realized that war was not what I was taught it was while growing up,” he recalled. “In reality, it’s nothing more than legalized murder, oppression and destruction that only serves to increase the level of suffering in the world.”

l   Iraqi humanitarian aid worker (and former soldier) Kasim Turki then explained his experience as a fighter who came to realize that nonviolence was the only way forward—even after seeing his city completely destroyed, experiencing direct mistreatment from U.S. soldiers, and also losing his brother due in part to their callous inaction following an accident. “I realized that revenge would only bring more destruction, and so I decided to break the cycle and become a peacemaker,” he explained.

l   Japanese novelist Amamiya Karin spoke next, pointing out the obvious link between militarism and poverty, and noting the dangerous trend whereby rising numbers of jobless and homeless youth in Japan are increasingly being targeted by recruitment agencies to join the Japanese Self Defense Forces. She implored the Japanese government to redirect its budget away from militarization and toward social services in order to avoid the vicious spiral existing now in the U.S., whereby poor youth are drawn into the military due to having few or no other options.

l   Finally, aid worker Takato Nahoko, who was taken hostage in Iraq in 2004, credited the existence of Article 9 for playing a large part in saving her life. “The reason why our captors finally released us was due to our peaceful activities and lack of association with any sort of military policy, she explained. “I am a living example of someone who is standing here before you today because of the principles of Article 9, and so I urge Japan to uphold this clause—as well as other nations to implement something similar. Doing so just may save someone else’s life in the future.”

After more energetic musical performances topped off the day’s proceedings, the second day of the conference featured a full program addressing a multitude of peace-related issues represented by Article 9. For example, six symposium sessions were offered on the topics of world conflict and nonviolence, realizing the spirit of Article 9 in Asia, women’s peace-building power, linking peace and the environment, crisis and the future of Article 9, and Article 9 and the nuclear age. There were also workshops held on the topics of disarmament and peace education, panel discussions on the topics of demilitarization and globalization, and special forums led by the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict and the International Lawyers Panel. 

In addition, the conference featured hundreds of workshops, films, artistic performances, and much more, including sessions covering topics such as Article 9 and the media, war and oppression, using Article 9 to build a nuclear-free world, Article 9 and U.S. military bases in Okinawa, banning depleted uranium (DU) weapons, and the practical use of Article 9 in conflict regions. Additional offerings included a liveperformance/ discussion workshop on the connections between peace and music; a concert by musician and Chernobyl survivor Nataliya Gudziy; a talk by 94 year-old former soldier Ryutaro Honda, who will travel to Europe next year to share his experience and urge protection for Article 9; and a report on the Article 9 peace walk, whereby an international group of participants spent 72 days walking from Hiroshima to the Chiba conference venue in order to raise awareness about the importance of Article 9.

The conference venue itself was a virtual festival of activity, with hundreds of peace organizations of all sizes offering literature and selling goods at booths set up throughout the facility. These included several groups calling for the U.S. military to relinquish its hold upon land and property and return them to local people, such as the Azabu Heliport in central Tokyo, and wildlife-rich areas in Okinawa such as the Henoko seaport and Takae village in the forested region of Yanbaru.

Some of the more creative peace campaigners in attendance included the Kikanshi Media Center, which was selling packages of low-calorie, 8-grain blend “Article 9 noodles” that promised to cultivate “peaceful hearts” amongst its consumers; Fukuoka-based university lecturer Yoshi Kuzume, who regularly travels abroad handing out T-shirts with the text of Article 9 in both Japanese and English in order to help spread its message around the world; and Isao Hashimoto, an artist who aimed to draw attention to the reality of the nuclear age with his striking piece featuring a succession of blinking lights on a world map that indicate the history of nuclear testing around the globe.

The conference wrapped up with a press conference whereby several official documents were released, including a final conference declaration and statements to be submitted to the upcoming G8 Summit and NPT (nuclear nonproliferation treaty) preparatory committee meetings. In essence, the message of the conference was simple and yet powerfully straightforward: utilize Article 9 as a practical model to be implemented by all governments in order to ensure that the doctrine of “peace through force” shall no longer be utilized as a tool of the nation-state.

In addition to supporting Article 9, many attendees were motivated by other various peace-related causes. Women’s shelter caseworker Akiko Sugiyama, who came to the conference with her boyfriend, community developer Naoki Kimura, carried around a backpack from which was conspicuously draped a handmade T-shirt inscribed with the message ‘Free Tibet.’ “I have been concerned about the situation in Tibet since volunteering at a Tibetan freedom concert several years ago, and so after the recent violence, I really felt that I had to try and do something,” Sugiyama explained. “I carry this shirt with me everywhere I go, and people are always coming up to me to talk about the situation in Tibet, which I find really heartening. It’s only a small action, but I’m hopeful that it will connect with something larger and help make a difference.”

Shuji Goto, a computer-analyst from the city of Kawasaki near Tokyo, felt compelled to come to the conference after considering the real-life implications of war and militarism. “When Japan conducted a ballistic missile interceptor test last December, there was all sorts of hype in the media about how amazing and wonderful it was,” he recalled. “But after doing some simple calculations based upon figures given by the UN Refugee Agency, I figured out that with the one-trillion yen that’s estimated to be spent on the entire defense shield project, meals could be provided to 82 million refugees for a full year. It makes me angry that the Japanese government is spending its time trying to get rid of Article 9 and pouring money into fighting the North Koreans, when we could be helping to feed them instead.”

--Kimberly Hughes

Global Article 9 Conference to End War • Tokyo • May 4-6, 2008

"...rather than go backwards, we ought to move forward: towards a vision of a world without war. A world where every nation would have a clause No. 9 in its constitution."

-- Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Green Belt Movement

Standing Room Only: Around 3,000 people standing in line for entrance 

into the Global Article 9 Conference to End War had to be turned away 

In 2003, a global network of NGOs formed the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) to voice opposition to the US/UK invasion of Iraq. Two years later, GPPAC declared a global appeal to incorporate the Japanese Constitution's Peace Clause, Article 9, into efforts to support world peace at the Northeast Asia Regional GPPAC Meeting and at the GPPAC Global Conference, at which the Global Article 9 Campaign was founded. Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO, and the Japan Lawyers International Solidarity Association (JALISA) have been the effort's organizers, supported by 88 co-initiators based in Japan.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire called their resulting 2008 Global Article 9 Conference to End War "historic." The global peace conference combined multiple perspectives on peace in East Asia and the world, taking into consideration the environment, social development, women's perspectives, nuclear nonproliferation, historical reconciliation, local and regional peace initiatives throughout the globe, and creative expressions. 

The gathering was a passionate gathering of military and civilian survivors and descendants of survivors of war and militarism of the Pacific War, who remember the devastation and human costs, and who say "No More". 

Elder women and men wearing Article 9 lapel pins; children holding their parents' hands, groups of nuns dressed in traditional habits;  and younger people in T-shirts made up a river of people streaming into the Makuhari Messe convention center, in eastern metropolitan Tokyo, where the conference was held. Over 30,000 people attended this peace conference dedicated to protecting Japan's Peace Clause and spreading its ideals throughout the world. Around three thousand people waiting in a line the size of a football field had to be turned away for lack of space. 

The conference began with a program, "Article 9 as a hope for the world" in a darkened hall filled with thousands of people. 

Maguire and Cora Weiss (U.S./Hague Appeal for Peace) pronounce the conference "historic" at a press conference with conference Yoshioka Tatsuya, co-founder of the Peace Boat, conference co-chair. 

JALISA, Japan Lawyers Int. Solidarity Association, was the other organizer.

"Realizing the Spirit of Article 9 in Asia" panel with  South Korean historian Kwon Heok Tae, 

German historian Nicola Liscutin ("comfort women" discourses), 

Chinese film director Ban Zhongyi (chronicles lives of people in postwar China, including Japanese women colonists left behind in China and military sexual slavery survivors), 

Taiwanese human rights scholar Chen Jau-hwa, 

American scholar and activist Joseph Gerson, 

Filipino activist Gus Miclat (Initiatives for Int. Dialogue, Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition), 

 Takasato Suzuyo (Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence).

One of many grassroots projects at the conference: Article 9 T-shirts made by children.

Dozens of people had to be turned away from the crowded room where the

"Iraq, U.S.A., and Japan" panel discussed the role of the Japanese

government in the Iraqi occupation.

Ellen Thomas, of Proposition One, an international nuclear weapons abolition initiative,

 and Jay Marx, of the Washington Peace Center, 

discuss the rational basis of peace activism.

116 lawyers are representing over one hundred Tokyo firebombing survivors 

 (wearing red sash) in their lawsuit against the Japanese  government 
for not compensating civilian survivors of the Tokyo firebombings

and for not memorializing their losses and suffering.

They are also demanding an apology from the Japanese government which

instead of memorializing firebombing victims, 
honored Curtis LeMay, strategist of the bombing of

(civilian targets) in Tokyo and all major Japanese cities (except Kyoto).

The survivors have joined together with Hibakusha and Chinese survivors of the

Japanese imperial military terror bombings of Chonqing to speak out

about the deaths and suffering of civilians as targets during the Pacific War.

Yoshi Kuzume, one of many examples of grassroots women's activism in Japan,

promotes peace by handing out T-shirts, emblazoned withArticle 9  
in Japanese in the front, and in English on the back.

Kuzume, who teaches Chinese at Seinan Gakuin University, wants to 

increase awareness that Japan has not gone to war in sixty years, in 

contrast to the decades of military aggression before the end of the Pacific War.

Kuzume studied in China in the 1980's, and found that Chinese people 

were moved when she explained Article 9 to them. Despite the fact 

that Japanese people have overwhelmingly supported and protected Japan's 

Peace Clause (against the attempts of some in the Japanese government, 

urged on by some in Washington, notably the Nixon and Bush administration)

 to overturn Article 9) is not well known outside of Japan.

Singing for peace – A Japanese schoolteacher is spreading the 

song "Negai" ("Our Wish") throughout Japan and the world, 

to demonstrate the wish of children for peace.

"Negai" has been translated into 31 languages, 

and has been sung in Taiwan, Finland, Iran, Korea, and Kenya.

Peace, environmental, human rights, democratic, slow life, and creative

practitioners from throughout Japan share information and fellowship.

The "Negative World Heritage" art exhibition refutes the triumphant

view of war in world history and calls for honestly addressing the

histories of the Nanjing Massacre; forced mass suicides in Okinawa; the

atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Anti-War Exhibition for Peace is a nationwide movement 

based in Saitama, a prefecture just north of Tokyo. So far, 3,000,000 

visitors have visited exhibitions across Japan for over 25 years.

The group exhibits at Saitama City Hall and other venues throughout Japan 

on time-limited schedules (in contrast to peace museums that are open year-round). 

 In partnership with peace groups, they organize around 150 exhibitions annually. 

The Anti-War Exhibition for Peace also invites international speakers and

witnesses to its events that address Japan's wartime history and the

Japanese government's escalating involvement in US-led wars & military conflict.

Organizers lead discussions about  alternatives to war and armed conflict:

"Invading China in the 1930's and Southeast Asia in the 1940's, Japan had been going to war almost once every ten years, until the end of World War II. These wars were fought at the cost of three million Japanese lives and twenty million lives throughout the rest of Asia.

Apology for these sins has remained only nominal to this day. Even a 'revisionist' movement has been gaining momentum in the area of history. Standing in opposition to such reactionary trends, the Antiwar Exhibition for Peace provides the general public with valuable opportunities to learn about the hard facts of Japan's past aggression. The Antiwar Exhibition for Peace promotes peace education throughout the country in the belief that each one of us, not just international organizations and governments, should act as a peacemaker."

 

Filmmaker John Junkerman, director of Japan's Peace Constitution (2005),

participates in a discussion about Article 9 with other journalists.

Vancouver Save Article 9 -- based in Vancouver 

was the 1st group outside of Japan) to spread news about Article 9

and how Japan's constitutionally guaranteed minimization of militarism

has indeed resulted in a more stable East Asia and world.

The movement demonstrates that nonproliferation and limiting militarization

 are viable and better methods of securing authentic peace

throughout the world than destabilizing  nuclear proliferation and arms races.

After the conference,Tokyo area university students hosted 

a panel discussion on the links between the US war in Iraq 

and the Bush and Koizumi administrations' attempt to overturn Article 9.

 Conscientious objector and Iraq war veteran Aidan Delgado 

and Kasim Turki, a former soldier in the Iraqi Republican Guard, now an Iraqi aid worker, Jay Marx of Washington Peace Center, singer Amamiya Karin and Kim Hughes, a translator, university teacher, and community activist living in Tokyo participate.

"As a global citizen, I support Article 9. In fact, I think that all constitutions should INCLUDE an Article 9 and... a global campaign to that end is needed, and certainly not the elimination of yours (Japan's)."

-- Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Int. Campaign to Ban Land Mines

(-JD, Originally published at the Kyoto Journal website)

Hope Amidst the Pain: Grassroots Japanese Network Gives Voice, Support to People in Iraq

                              Doctors Ghufran Saba and Ansam Salih from Basra, Iraq

Between visits to Roppongi Hills, Harajuku, and Tokyo Disneyland, the busy schedule of Ansam Salih and Ghufran Saba this past February could have been that of any other tourists in Tokyo. In reality, however, the pair — both doctors of pediatric medicine — were visiting Japan’s capital to tell the agonizing story of the reality befalling the people of their hometown in Basra, Iraq.

              Ansam and Ghufran — Iraqi tradition dictates that people are referred to by their first names — spent a six-month stint at a hospital in Sapporo between September 2006 and March 2007 at the joint invitation of Save the Iraq Children Sapporo and Soroptimist International. The purpose of their visit was to hone their medical and technical skills in order to continue providing the best care possible for the tiniest members of their community — whom both assert as bearing the heaviest cost of the succession of wars that have plagued their city and country over the past several decades.

Unimaginable suffering

              Both Ansam and Ghufran were the featured speakers at an event titled “Iraq Today: A Conversation with Two Iraqi Women Doctors,” held at a community hall in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward during their visit to the metropolis. The doctors began by giving an historical overview of their country, including the rich cultural and literary traditions that developed in the civilizational cradle of the Mesopotamian river s. They then described, from a humanitarian perspective, the tumultuous events occurring more recently in their country, beginning with the Iran-Iraq war in the early 1980s. Neither doctor minced any words in describing the unimaginable suffering that has continued to befall their fellow citizens since that time.

              “Iraq’s infrastructure was nearly completely destroyed during the first Gulf War,” explained Ghufran in a tone conveying both subtle grace and fierce conviction. “Conditions then deteriorated even further during the sanctions that followed, as both medicines and hospital equipment were barred for import under the allegation that they could be used for chemical weapons and other military purposes.”

              Both doctors agreed that the most recent war and its ensuing occupation have brought Iraq to its lowest point yet. It is widely thought that more than 2,000 tons of depleted uranium (DU) have been leaked into Iraq’s environment since the war was launched in 2003, on top of the several hundred tons that were used in the country during the first Gulf War. This DU has been linked to a steady rise in the rate of cancers — particularly in children — as well as babies born with severe malformations. The doctors estimated that birth defects have increased by two to six times since 1991, and that three to twelve times as many children have developed cancer and leukemia.

              The continuation of sanctions, however, has meant that hospitals remain unable to provide proper treatment. In addition to short supplies of lifesaving medicines and equipment, regularly occurring electricity power outages and shortages of clean water are literally spelling death for sick babies and children. The doctors explained that 80 percent of children with leukemia and other cancers throughout the country are now dying — an exact reversal from prewar days, when 80 percent recovered. In the two doctors’ hospital in Basra alone, an average of five to ten children are losing the battle with their diseases every day.

             “The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come, is beyond imagining,” commented Ansam. Vivacious and outgoing by nature, she turned somber and forceful when speaking of the situation in Iraq today. “Poverty in Iraq has worsened acutely during the invasion and occupation, and those who were already surviving on the margins due to years of deprivation have sunk even further,” Ansam continued. “The suffering is enormous, even for adults. For children, it is simply unimaginable.”

              She added, “While we don’t hate Americans, I don’t recall Iraq ever inviting them to bring their troops into our country. Honestly, the kind of military invasion that we have seen in Iraq is totally unbefitting of the 21^st century. It truly feels as if we have gone backwards in time.”

  
Iraq Hope Network

Ansam and Ghufran’s presentation in Tokyo was sponsored by the Iraq Hope Network, a Japan-based consortium of NGOs, aid-workers, journalists, lawyers, university professors and volunteers who together sponsor projects in Iraq focused on humanitarian aid, reconstruction and human rights. The event was also co-sponsored by the Japan-Iraq Medical Network (JIM-Net) and Peace On, both of which are member organizations of the network that are involved in a variety of interesting initiatives aimed at providing support and services to people in Iraq.

              JIM-Net’s work has consisted of spearheading a number of fundraising and educational projects aimed at bringing relief to children in Iraq suffering from leukemia and other cancers. For the past two years, the group has sold Valentine’s Day packages that include chocolate-covered almonds and a picture drawn by a young sick Iraqi — each of which funds the cost of one day’s treatment for a child. Over the two years, they were able to raise a total of thirteen million yen (US$115,000) through this initiative. Other network activities include exhibitions of Iraqi children’s art, a blog on JIM-Net’s website detailing conditions in Iraqi cities and providing medical updates on the young Iraqi children with whom it has worked, and the publication of a book in Japanese aimed at younger audiences that provides basic explanations of war and weaponry, as well as depleted uranium and its connection to illnesses such as cancer.

              “One of our aims in exhibiting Iraqi children’s artwork is to dispel the misguided notion that these young people are somehow the terrorists of the future, since one look at their artwork makes it clear that they are simply kids, doing what kids everywhere do,” explained JIM-Net founder Sato Maki. “Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives, and this artwork also helps to bring home the point that every single one of them was a precious individual human being.”

              JIM-Net has also worked with other organizations, including the Campaign for Abolition of Depleted Uranium Japan, to put pressure on the Japanese government to comply with international initiatives aimed at putting an end to violent tactics of war. Sato laments the fact, however, that the Japanese government still refuses to admit the dangers of depleted uranium — a bitter irony given its status as the only hibaku (atomic bomb victim) nation in the world — and instead continues to parrot the United States in insisting that more DU research needs to be conducted. “Whether we are talking about depleted uranium or cluster bombs, the Japanese government has repeatedly prioritized the maintenance of its relationship with the United States,” Sato commented. “As a result, Japan is not signing on to these agreements.”

              Peace On is another member organization of the Iraq Hope Network that has sponsored a number of projects aimed at bringing relief to war-weary Iraqis. It has provided support to displaced populations within Iraq, as well as Iraqis who now reside in neighboring Jordan and Syria. The group has also directed its efforts toward other vulnerable populations in Iraq, such as organizing specially chartered school buses for disabled children in Baghdad who were unable to travel to school due to the deteriorating security situation.

              Peace On director Aizawa “Yatch” (Yasuyuki) is a musician who traveled to Iraq in 2003 to serve as a human shield during the “Shock and Awe” bombing campaign that was carried out by the U.S. military. Following this experience, he returned to Japan to found the organization as a way to encourage grassroots-level interactions between people in Japan and Iraq. “Living together with Iraqis during the beginning of the war allowed me to experience their terror, as well as learn about their zest for life,” explained Aizawa. “Every time I traveled to Iraq, I came away having learned so much from the resilience of its people. Particularly striking was my meeting with different Iraqi artists, whose distinctive personalities made me feel as if I was truly witnessing light amongst the chaos.”

              Like JIM-Net, Peace On has also used art as a means by which to raise awareness of deeper issues underlying the matters of war and violence. Aizawa’s experience inspired him to organize and sponsor the visit of a team of Iraqi artists to Japan in order to showcase their work for the Japanese public. Aptly titled “Light From Chaos,” the annual exhibit has run for the past four years at various venues throughout the country. While some of the pieces focus upon themes connected to the war and occupation, they also offer windows into other aspects of Iraq such as modern everyday life and the country’s rich cultural history — thereby providing Japanese audiences with a human face to Iraq that they would otherwise be unable to encounter.

Is the World Truly Safer Now?

In addition to fundraising initiatives, the Iraq Hope Network has sponsored a number of additional projects aimed at raising awareness regarding the war and occupation in Iraq. One such action was an international petition drive aimed at getting the U.S. military to stop its violent tactics in Ramadi, a city near Fallujah where many network members have cherished friends and colleagues. Ramadi suffered heavily from strong-handed military action, such as checkpoints, nighttime home searches, and random civilian killings. While the petition was obviously not in a position to end the war, it did gather around 5500 signatures from people in 42 countries and was read by people back in Iraq, whom network members reported as taking comfort from the many thoughtful, heartfelt comments.

              The network has also brought several other Iraqis to Japan to speak of their plight. One such visitor was Mr. Kasim Turki, a humanitarian aid worker from Ramadi who has provided jobs and support to refugees and other displaced people in Iraq. A former soldier in the Iraqi army, Kasim once considered joining the resistance movement against U.S. troops, but was swayed by his contact with Japanese aid workers including former hostage Takato Nahoko, who encouraged him to turn his energies toward rebuilding instead of retaliation. While visiting Japan this past April, Kasim went on a speaking tour around Japan to tell his story and raise funds for his work. “My brother bled to death in his car after he had been injured in a traffic accident and the U.S. military refused to let him pass through their checkpoint to proceed to a hospital,” Kasim explained in a voice fraught with pain. “While I once would have wanted to take revenge, I am now planning to build an emergency medical clinic in Ramadi to help others, which will also stand as a tribute to my brother and what happened to him.”

              As part of its mission to continue educating people in Japan about the lives of ordinary Iraqis and all that they have continued to endure, the Iraq Hope Network issues an e-mail bulletin with various news items of interest. At the end of these transmissions, the group periodically poses the following question: “Has the attack upon Iraq truly made the world a safer place?” It is a question that continues to resound with meaning, and one that members of the network will likely continue to pose until peace is restored to Iraq and the human rights of health and safety returned to its citizens.  

Antiwar Resources:

Japan

* Iraq Hope Network: http://www.iraq-hope.net/english.htm

Peace Not War Japan: http://www.pnwj.org

*Peace On: http://npopeaceon.org/whats/english.htm

World Peace Now: www.worldpeacenow.jp/

U.S.

A.N.S.W.E.R: http://www.internationalanswer.org/

Code Pink: www.codepink4peace.org/

Education for Peace in Iraq Center: www.epic-usa.org/

United for Peace and Justice: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Voices for Creative Nonviolence: www.vcnv.org/

Iraq-Related Blogs:

Alive in Baghdad: http://aliveinbaghdad.org/

Baghdad Burning: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

**Iraq Hope Diary (Takato Nahoko’s blog) http://iraqhope.exblog.jp/

Iraq Mail — The Voice from Ramadi: http://iraqmail.blogspot.com/

* Limited English content

** Japanese only

--Kimberly Hughes

(originally published in Kyoto Journal magazine #68. November, 2007)

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Takeharu Watai's Little Birds provides sensitive window into human consequences of the Iraq War

"Don't cry, Daddy, we've become birds in heaven."- Takeharu Watai's Little Birds

The best and most empathetic global visual window on the American and British led war in Iraq has not been the work of an American or a British journalist, but a film by an award-winning thirty-five-year-old Japanese video journalist Watai Takeharu.

Watai, who wrote a book in Japanese with the same title, spent over a year filming his 2005 documentary film, Little Birds.

One of the Iraqis he follows in his narrative is Ali Saqban, whose three children died since the American invasion of Iraq. The title of Watai's film comes from the words on the gravestone, written by people who helped Saqban bury his children: "Don't cry, Daddy, we've become birds in heaven."

Watai allows the faces and voices of Iraqis, devastated by the war, and American soldiers, many whom are very young, poor, and don't know why they are in Iraq, to speak for themselves:

March 2003, before air-raids started, life in Baghdad was graced with the smiling faces and laughter of children.

Soon, the bombings started and have resulted in many deaths and injuries.

Takeharu Watai, the director was there when the U.S. Army entered Baghdad, and witnessed a woman standing in front of a U.S. tank and shouting, "How many children have you killed? Go to the hospital and see the people dying!"

At these words, Watai visited Thawra Hospital in Baghdad. There in the middle of the tragic mess, he met Ali Saqban, 32, whose daughter was dying. Saqban lost two elder brothers during the Iran-Iraq War, and was himself injured during the Kuwait invasion. Now he has lost three of his children by the U.S. entry into Iraq.

"I don't think people were created to kill people," he says as he kneels in front of his children's graves.

Hadeel, 12, lost her right eye by the cluster bomb, an inhuman weapon used by the U.S.A, and Ahmad his right hand.

By showing these families who are torn apart and hurt by the war, Watai questions the audiences in Japan and in the world as to the "significance" of the war.

"War is a disgusting word," Ali Saqban says at the end of the film.

Little Birds won the Human Rights Award at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival and the 2005 Japan Conference of Journalists Grand Prize. The film was screened earlier this week at the Raindance Film Festival in London, and earlier this year at the Singapore International Film Festival and the Global Peace Film Festival in Beppu City, Japan. Last year, it was screened at the EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) in Seoul.

Watai has worked with Asia Press International, a news agency consisting of a group of independent video journalists, since 1998.

In February 2005, the journalist traveled on the 48th voyage of Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO that promotes peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment.

The Peace Boat website has an interview which reflects Watai's clear-sighted and human-centered perspective on Iraq and war, focusing on those, including U.S. soldiers, caught in the middle of and paying the price of whatever this war was about:

I asked so many people, “When the air raids started, what did you do?”

They said that they couldn’t do anything. I really sympathized with them. At that time, if they opposed the war, it meant that they were fighting for Saddam. They didn’t like that.

One taxi driver said “I don’t want war, but I will not help Saddam, this is why I didn’t do anything”. During the Saddam regime, the people did not have a choice. Even now, they don’t have a choice. Two weeks before the war started, I entered Baghdad and I was very surprised at their lives. They were going to school, children were playing football, and people were in the markets. They were very optimistic. Now, they just pretend to be optimistic.

In Iraq, I think it is very difficult to generalize, because there are so many ethnic groups and ways of thinking. At that time, the people couldn’t do anything. If someone criticized Saddam, he would go to jail or be executed. But they don’t want war. They wanted the Saddam regime to be over, because he couldn’t do anything. Then the war started...

I met so many American soldiers in Iraq - Korean Americans, Hispanics, and African Americans. They were very young. There were a lot of students there, because in America, they can get scholarships if they enter the Army. Also, they can get green cards. That’s why a lot of young and poor people enter the army. I think there were few rich people – they’re very poor in the US army.

Also, they don’t understand why they are in Iraq. They say “to liberate the Iraqi people or help them”, but they are just saying that. It’s not from deep in their minds. I asked one guy, “Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Why can’t you find them?” He couldn’t answer. He said “you can find them with your camera”. What does that mean? They don’t understand the reason for the war.

I believe they also are victims. The army is like a bridge. One side is killing people, the other is being killed.

Watai adds unexpected information about the relationship between Iraq and Japan:

I was surprised that before, the Iraqi people loved Japan very much – more than any other country.

I have been to many countries and many people have knowledge of Japanese companies, but the Iraq people are very friendly to Japanese and trust them. That was before. But now, the impression of Japanese people is getting worse.

We have lost our good friends in Iraq because of this. Iraq is a very rich country, with rich culture, education and resources, but it has been destroyed by war.

“I am here as a journalist, but first and foremost as a human rights activist”: Iraqi correspondent Isam Rasheed visits Japan, urges focus on war’s human costs

(Photo of Isam Rashed by Kimberly Hughes)

Isam Rashed, an Iraqi journalist whose work appears regularly in Inter Press Service news reports, gave a talk and video presentation on the evening of Wednesday, June 14th in Tokyo’s Bunkyo ward as part of an event co-sponsored by Iraq Hope Network and World Peace Now—both of which are coalitions of smaller Japan-based NGOs and grassroots citizens groups.
 
Rasheed told the audience of several hundred people that although he was visiting Japan in his capacity as a journalist, his ultimate purpose was as a human rights activist committed to getting the word out as widely as possible regarding the widespread suffering among his people at the hands of the U.S. military occupation. 

Rasheed showed two video films documenting the human costs of the war that have befallen the citizens of Fallujah, including “Caught In the Crossfire," a documentary film that was shot between November 2004 and April 2005 as a collaborative project between Iraqi and U.S. filmmakers, including himself and Mark Manning (The Road to Fallujah).

The images spoke for themselves in terms of the horrific suffering that has continued to plague the people of Iraq: listless children with torn limbs; men whose dead bodies have been riddled with various tortures; a young woman who has lost an eye in addition to two of her children. These tragic scenes were then suddenly interspersed with a simulated look through the viewfinder of a Apache helicopter-making the contrast between the cold technological apparatuses of the U.S. military and the suffering on the ground all the more grippingly poignant.

Rasheed also pointed out that what happened in Fallujah also repeated itself in the city of Ramadi, whose citizens were suddenly ordered to evacuate the city this past April despite the fact that most had no other shelter to turn to. Many ended up in mosquito-infested desert encampments with filthy water and little food, and those who stayed behind were left (and continue to remain) as virtual prisoners in their homes. Many civilians have been wounded or killed by the ensuing attacks, and essentially remain trapped inside the city with dwindling lifelines of food, water and electricity. 

Rasheed lamented the “dirty” way in which the U.S. continues to conduct this war in his country. He explained that medicines to soothe and care for the wounded remain scarce, and young men are being taken away and incarcerated en masse by the U.S.-trained Iraqi police. Anyone moving about is required to pass through multiple military checkpoints, where civilians are forced to wait in line for several hours and then subjected to humiliating searches that essentially treat them all as criminals.

“Is this really U.S. style democracy?” Rasheed asked pointedly. He also charged that the U.S. has deliberately utilized divide-and-conquer tactics, such as pitting Sunni against Shia where such divisions hardly existed in the past, and deliberately infiltrating the police force with guerrilla-like death squads. Such moves, he suggests, have been useful for deepening the justification for occupation (i.e., more dead Iraqis mean more reasons for the U.S. to stay and offer protection).

Sharing the stage with Rasheed at this event was moderator Nahoko Takato, a humanitarian aid worker  working with the Iraq Hope Network who expressed similar distress regarding the conditions that she witnessed while working in Iraq. Her blog,  the Iraqi Hope Diary, details accounts received regularly via e-mail  from a friend in Ramadi that offer a gripping firsthand account of how dismal life has become in the city. Recently, Takato received word from the author of these accounts that his brother died on June 12th from loss of blood after being injured in a car accident and then detained at a U.S. military checkpoint on the way to the hospital.

"The concept of our project is 'reconstruction, not destruction,' but how will my friend react now after the loss of his brother?" Takato wrote in a recent blog entry. "I pleaded with him to channel his heartbreak and rage into continuing to write to us about what was happening in Ramadi, instead of picking up a weapon. After considering the matter, he finally told me not to worry because he was committed to protecting his family through peaceful means." 

Throughout the evening's presentation, Rasheed repeated different variations of a singular gripping question: How would you react if what was now happening in Iraq was happening instead to you and your family? He invited each of us in the audience to go beyond the video game-like presentation of war that has been offered to us by the mainstream media, and actually imagine what war feels like. 

Could we imagine, he asked, the terror that we and our loved ones would experience upon being awakened from a peaceful sleep in the middle of the night as our home was suddenly and violently busted into by foreign soldiers? How would we feel, he continued, if we were then subjected to invasive body searches, as was the case for Rasheed and each member of his family--including his 85 year-old father and five year-old son? Could we even begin to conceive of the pain, he asked, of those who have lost everything through violent means--family members, home, possessions--while continuing to be treated as virtual prisoners on their own territory?

Listening to Rasheed’s accounts of the events that unfolded in Fallujah--particularly when he described an incident whereby citizens who were first ordered to leave the city were then later prevented at gunpoint from crossing a bridge to escape--reminded me of the situation of martial law that befell the city of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. While there is obviously no parallel to be made here with the situation in Iraq, the increased militarization of cities and borders that is now taking place inside the U.S. should give us pause regarding the callous way that our government responds to human needs during times of crisis even in our own country. 

This challenge that Rasheed offers us—to put ourselves in the position of suffering that is now the plight of the Iraqi people—is a powerful one that carries the potential to determine whether or not the fatal spiral of violence will finally be put to rest. For those of us who understand that labels such as “allies” vs. “enemies” and “insurgents” vs. “freedom-fighters” are false dichotomies that rest upon nothing more than the fragile matter of perspective, this leap is not a difficult one to make. Call it the cycle of revenge or call it pure karma, but in either case, it is clear that the task before us is to come face to face with the worst of all possible horrors, tortures, and suffering--and then imagine them being inflicted upon those who are closest to us. 

Americans who refuse to allow the tables to be turned, however, and continue to insist that we are still the “good guys” while ignoring bad news such as the recent Iraqi ambassadorial memo    and the tortures perpetrated by the U.S. military against Iraqis, must understand that this failure to empathize with others' suffering will ultimately continue to bring tragedy to all parties involved. 

Rasheed cautioned, for example, that Iraqis and others in the Middle East are starting to no longer automatically make distinctions between the U.S. government and its citizens. And if the U.S. continues along the same path, he said, he feared that it would be quite possible that Americans would be shown little mercy in the future. Indeed, the fate that befell the two recently kidnapped U.S. soldiers, should help drive home the point that any suffering unleashed can and will come back to confront head on those who are perceived to be its perpetrators. 

Rasheed emphasized, however, that his intent was not to encourage ill will toward ordinary American citizens, and that his interactions with committed U.S. peace organizations such as Code Pink, Global Exchange, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Voices in the Wilderness, etc. have helped him to remain aware of continuing principled opposition to the war in Iraq that does exist within the U.S. 

“The situation in our country has become so bad that no one knows who they can trust anymore,” Rasheed explained. “I just want to spread the word as far and as wide as possible about what is really happening to us.”

Ways to help:

New petition sponsored by the Iraq Hope Network to stop the violence in Ramadi and abide by international law in Iraq: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/507914513

Initiative asking voters to pledge to choose only candidates who commit to withdrawing troops from Iraq: http://www.votersforpeace.us/

July 4th hunger strike aimed at bringing home the troops: www.troopshomefast.org

- Kimberly Hughes

Darrell Moen on Organic Farming as Social Change: "Regional Revitalization in the Okitama Basin of Yamagata Prefecture"

Anthropologist Darrell Moen's fascinating account of disenchanted Japanese leaving large cities and taking up organic farming to revitalize rural areas:

Excerpt from "Regional Revitalization in the Okitama Basin of Yamagata Prefecture":

This report describes the ways in which a group of organic farmers in Yamagata Prefecture have been able to effect basic structural changes that contribute to the social transformative process of counter-hegemony.

Members of the Okitama farmers' League (OFL) have initiated a regional revitalization plan that is based on the concept of eco-circularity in which local household food wastes and other organic materials are converted into compost for use by area organic farmers. By forming organic farmers' collectives, members provide farm-related work in rural areas during the long winter months. The women farmers in the group formed a support group for farm wives to fight collectively against female subordination within the household as well as to improve the overall position of women in the Okitama area.

They are challenging the dominant culture's values and social assumptions, and are engaged in creating new cultural values and definitions of self in relation to others. The Okitama Farmers League offers a vision of a noneconomistic, democratized, and environmentally sustainable society centered on universal principles of human rights, social justice, and popular participation in the reformulation of the meanings attached to work, authority, culture, family, community, gender, and consumption.

At each of four regional organic farmers' groups I visited in Japan while engaged in my dissertation fieldwork research, I found at least two or three member farmers who had experienced living in the megalopolises of either Osaka or Tokyo for an extended period of time (between four and ten years). Some of these farmers left home to attend colleges and universities, returning to the family farm upon graduation; others had pursued careers in the city after finishing their schooling.

Referred to as the "U-turn phenomenon" in Japan, increasing numbers of the sons and daughters of farm families are returning to their natal towns and villages from often prolonged stays in major metropolises, and a large number of those who return and take over family farms are doing so on the condition that they will be able to farm organically. They bring back with them not only invigorating new ideas and new forms of behavior, but also eye-opening stories of the alienating lifestyles and hardships associated with city life that make life in the countryside appear greatly preferable in contrast.

The returnees often breathe new life into regional towns and villages, and their enthusiastic determination to succeed as full-time organic farmers, helping to form various organic farmers' collectives and (by the mind-1980s) working with other rural residents to revitalize the countryside, often acts as a catalyst, motivating others to work together to improve their lives.

The presence of the returnees accelerates the process of transcending the rural-urban dichotomy, as they maintain their ties (material and ideological) with both areas. Because of their familiarity with the hectic and congested urban lifestyle, their friendships with urban residents, their knowledge of broader social issues and their experience with some of the movements associated with them, and their ultimate decision to choose the rural over the urban, they have been able to make significant contributions to the growth of the organic farming movement in the relatively remote regional areas of Japan.

In this report, I focus on a group of organic farmers in Okitama County (Yamagata Prefecture) who are involved in revitalizing their entire regional economy.1 Okitama County, with its three cities, five towns, and numerous villages, lies in a fertile basin surrounded by the Northern Japan Alps. Situated in the middle of Japan's snow belt, the county has an agricultural season that lasts only six months, and 95 percent of the county's farm families obtain most of their income from a combination of local factory employment at subcontracting firms and migratory labor during the six months of winter.

(Originally posted at the Kyoto Journal website)

How the Irish Saved Civilization, Spread St. Patrick's Day Parades (Occidental-friendly Matsuri) throughout Japan, & May Be Saving Civilization Again

(or at least putting some much-needed goodwill and fun into our shared World Civilization for one day a year)

The outward signs of any Japanese matsuri are the most puzzling enigmas to the stranger who sees them for the first time. They are many and varied; they are quite unlike anything in the way of holiday decoration ever seen in the Occident; they have each a meaning founded upon some belief or some tradition, --- a meaning known to every Japanese child; but that meaning is utterly impossible for any foreigner to guess.

- Lafcadio Hearn, 1894

A little less than a century after Hearn wrote these words, the first St. Patrick's Day parade in Tokyo in 1991 joined Japan's many matsuris, with decorations easily understandable to people all over the world. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the first Japanese St. Patrick's Day parade down Omote-Sando's broad, tree-lined boulevard in Tokyo's youth mecca, Harajuku. This year, six parades will be taking place throughout Japan, in Nagoya, Sendai, Kyoto, Ise, Yokohama, and Tokyo.

Thomas Cahill's 1995 book tells us how the Irish saved civilization during the European Middle Ages. However, it remains a mystery how and why Irish people from the far western end of the massive Eurasian landmass, leapfrogged two continents, to its far eastern end in Japan—to make Tokyo an epicenter of ever-increasing waves of St. Patrick's Day parades spreading throughout the archipelago. These Irish-Japanese parades seem to be generated by enthusiasm at the grassroots, thus are different from other adopted European and American holidays such as Valentine's Day and Christmas, popularized by department stores for commercial reasons.

There are many issues here that merit scrutiny and discussion by those interested in multiculturalism: What is it about St. Patrick's Day that gives it such strong appeal in Japan? The Guinness? The similarity to Japanese matsuri? The costumes? The music? The dancing? How does the Irish concept Craic compare with the Japanese term Tanoshii? Are they both the same and different? Why and how?

Does everyone, in fact, become Irish on St. Patrick's Day? That would make St.Patrick's Day's "Irishness" a metaculture, possibly saving contemporary civilization by serving as a global day of ethnic transcendence every year.

Why did Japan become the eastern center for St. Patrick's Day parades? Simply because of geography, because it's at the far eastern end of Eurasia and the Irish could go no further? Or are there more compelling reasons why? And, will these parades now begin spreading from Japan westward through Korea to China to India, in a reverse path from Buddhism? Will Celtic Christian motifs join the syncretic art in the Dunhuang caves in China? Who will be the pilgrims and saints spearheading this movement? Do I hear Enya singing "Sumiregusa" ("Wild Violet") in Japanese in the background?


The St. Patrick's Day parade, now a global cottage industry, has been multicultural from its inception. It was not indigenous to Ireland, but, instead, created in the Irish-American diasporan culture when the first parade took place in 1762 in New York. When Irish immigrants flooded the United States to escape the mid-1800's Irish Famine, they encountered discrimination by the dominant Anglo-Protestants. As St. Patrick's Day became a rallying symbol for Irish-American pride, parades began proliferating all over the United States.

The story of the Irish in Japan, of course, dates at least back to Lafcadio Hearn, a nineteenth-century global nomad, and an Anglo-Irish-Greek-American-Japanese hyphenate. About a century after the chronicler of "Old Japan" migrated to the archipelago, Irish engineers, business people, and teachers started arriving in larger numbers during Ireland's economic slump when Japan experienced its 1980's Go-Go decade.

Around one hundred young Irish teachers come to Japan on the JET program every year. Some Irish students simply come to Japan to study or visit. A sizeable proportion of these people have remained to permanently work for a Japanese company, often marrying Japanese spouses. When the Irish economy began taking off in the 1990's, IT and other business networks have developed between the two countries. Japanese companies have established offices and manufacturing plants in Ireland and Irish businesses have come to Japan. There are also 70 Irish pubs throughout Japan, from Kyushu to Hokkaido; the Japan Gaelic Athletic Association; and several Irish music and dance groups and schools.

Around nine hundred registered Irish residents live in Japan (compared to a little over seven hundred Japanese residents in Ireland). Japanese spouses, mixed children, Japanese aficionados of Irish culture, Irish-Americans, and Irish-Australians increase the population of the multi-ethnic Irish community in Japan.

One of my most pleasant memories of the Irish community in Tokyo is of an Irish-Indian-Japanese St. Patrick's Day party at the Irish ambassador's house in the early 1990's, where a Japanese virtuoso Celtic harpist played in the background.

The ambassador's wife was from India so they had an Irish-Punjabi fusion cuisine buffet – Irish soda bread served with curry dishes – with Guinness Stout and Bailey's Irish Creme for beverages. When I commented on how great the combination was, a young Irishman told me that India and Ireland actually have ancient connections and that the Irish and Indian languages are related through the Indo-European/Central Asian family. For example, the word for "brother" in Sanskrit is bhratar, and related to the Irish brathair.

And while there are differences between Ireland and Japan, they have more in common besides both being island outposts of Eurasia. In ancient Ireland, before the Christian conversion, the sun was also a powerful symbol. It's said that St. Patrick actually incorporated sun symbology with that of the cross, creating the Celtic cross. Their cultures share the veneration of water as a regenerative symbol in ritual cleansing and purification. There's a deep love of poetry in both countries. Seamus Heaney, the Irish literary Nobel laureate, is a personal friend of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, who visited him last year.

An Irish friend of mine, who is married to a Japanese woman, and lives in Japan permanently, told me he felt at home in Japan from the moment he arrived, especially when he saw the spirals and circles in the rock gardens of Kyoto. They reminded him of Celtic art.

Similarly, a Japanese friend of mine told me that traditional Irish music awakened something hauntingly powerful inside of him. I told him perhaps aspects of traditional Japanese culture—repressed in Japan during its rapid modernization during the Meiji (1868-1912) period when schools began teaching classical European music at the expense of traditional Japanese music; similarly to the Anglo-Saxon repression of Celtic culture—still lingered in the Japanese collective unconscious. Perhaps these yearnings for what had been lost began surfacing in him upon the recognition of a parallel of itself in the traditional Irish musical revivals.

Formerly suppressed indigenous and traditional cultures have not only resurfaced, but are also flourishing worldwide. In the African-American experience, ancient African rhythms survived severe cultural repression during slavery. One African-American scholar attributes this to persistent "cultural memory." In the 1990's, as a Japanese traditional musical revival began building steam in tandem with the Irish traditional musical explosion (and world music everywhere), I couldn't help but wonder if there was something very old and powerful at play.


Echoing Buddhist thought and the mysticism of other faith traditions, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, who had his own connections with Japan, including writing a Noh play, At the Hawk's Well, had another more mystical theory—that we all resonate to archetypal symbols, no matter from which culture, because, ultimately, we are all made of one single energy—and that memories of this unity can be evoked by symbols:

The borders of our minds are ever shifting
And many minds can flow into one another...

And create or reveal a single mind, a single energy

But these are just a couple of possible hypotheses on the topic of the proliferation of Irish parades in Japan, a subject which deserves much more investigation, and, as a toast to this ongoing discussion, I join all those in Japan and everywhere wishing each other "Éirinn go Brách"or "Happy St.  Patrick's Day!"

- Jean Miyake Downey

(Originally posted at the Kyoto Journal website. Photos of St. Pat's Day parade in Tokyo 2006, courtesy of Kjeld Duits at iKjeld.com.)